Can SS pins wear out?

[Canadian Bush Wacker]

For some reason some of my 2nd and 3 third fired brass is just not coming out like new anymore. The necks seam tarnished and the base ring is as well
every thing else is fine. These are on 308 cal.

The brass is fine, but what is causing this non finished look now?

Once fired brass is like brand new or better after, but after that not so much.

A twist or two at the neck and base of the ring and bingo with steel wool .

What am I missing here?

 

[sask378]

Do a run with no brass. That should fix it.

 

[oops]

Unless you have tumbled 10's of thousands,it is still a maybe.Make sure your ingredients you add are in appropriate amounts and give it some extra time for those dirty ones!!

 

[Brianma65]

Clean your pins.

Also I just cleaned a bunch of 9mm,without the pins.
They came out clean and shiny.

 

[bigedp51]

Try weighing or just tumbling less cases if they are not coming clean, less is more when it comes to cleaning. I was putting too many cases in my STM tumbler and it took a much longer time to get the brass clean. With less brass the tumbling time was greatly reduced and the brass had more bling.

The same thing happens if you over load your washing machine and the clothes do not come out as clean. Meaning its the tumbling action of the SS media that scrubs the brass sparkling clean and too much brass reduces this effect.

Instructions for Rebel 17 Tumbler
1. Add 5 Lbs (2.27 kg) of SS media into the drum
2. Next fill with 1 gallon (3.78 Liters) of cold water. (One gallon)=8 Lbs/3.63 kg
3. Add your brass into the drum (2-4 Lbs of brass)
4. Add dish soap. 1 -2 Tbs (15-30 mL) of either Dawn, Ivory, or Joy dish soap
(if there are no soap bubbles in the water after you tumble, you need more soap)
5. Add 1/4 Tsp. (1.25 mL) of Lemishine. This is the key to the shine. (Not too much)
6. Tumble 3-4 hours with the Model B High Speed Thumler’s Tumbler
7. Pour out as much water as you can without losing any brass or pins
(The more you rinse the brass and pins the better your results will be next time)
8. Fill drum with water, and separate brass by hand or use an STM Media Separator with water.
9. Rinse your brass off really good with some warm water. (Not getting a good rinse can leave water spots on the brass)
10. Dump brass onto a towel and let dry. If any pins get stuck in the neck of the brass throw those pins away
11. Store Stainless Steel Media either wet or dry in drum

 

[VinnyQC]

WIth bottleneck cases, the pins get inside the cases don't come out. That's obviously not a problem with straightwalled brass. The solution is to clean less cases per load, or use more pins.

The pins would probably not wear out for multiple human lifetimes.

 

[inthehizzy]

I was having an issue with soot and tarnish on my brass in my wet tumbler after awhile, despite water coming out relative clean. I opted to run some degreaser (Spray Nine) in the drum with pins. After emptying, the water was a dark sludge. I ran my next batch of brass as per my usual process and it came out looking like 24k gold.

 

[LeadMonkey]

...

 

[DiabeticKripple]

i added too much lemishine on my first batch and made the brass go dark. it really doesnt take much to make them shiny.

i filled my frankford arsenal with pins and then topped it up with 7mm rem mag and 223 brass and it didnt clean very well. it was too full. i found that you need to keep it below 3/4 full so the brass has room to move around.

 

[curseyou]

Yup. Too much lemishine. Less is more.

 

[BLACKBRIAR]

I've been tumbling for a few years now. I have a Lortone QT-12. Started with 5000 pins. I only use Sunlight citrus (orange) about 2-3 TBSP and Lemishine 1 TBSP, warm water (I tried hot water but found that the brass would tarnish when drying0 I find that a max of 2 hours works well. If you leave it too long (like overnight) then the soap and lemishine breaks down and you end up with clean but crappy looking brass. I immediately rinse in cold water in a RCBS media tumbler. I put the bottom half in the sink, fill with water and slowly tumble the pins out takes about a minute.. Trying to tumble them without water will not get them out. I then place them on a bath towel and grab each end creating a hammock, tip each end back and forth a few times which helps get most of the water out of the case. I then transfer them to a dry towel and let them air dry. If its nice out I'll put them on the deck to dry quicker. I find that small batches don't clean as well as larger ones.

Never cleaned my pins either. I end up with this

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